RTMX

Requirements Traceability Matrix toolkit for AI-driven development.

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RTMX brings requirements traceability to modern software development. Track what you're building, why you're building it, and prove it works—all from your terminal.

Documentation · Quickstart · RTMX Sync

Why RTMX?

For AI-assisted development, RTMX provides the context AI agents need:

• Token-efficient CSV format that fits in context windows
• Clear requirement IDs for precise references (REQ-AUTH-001)
• Dependency graphs that show what to build next
• MCP server for real-time AI agent integration

For teams, RTMX brings clarity:

• One command to see project progress: make rtm
• Prioritized backlog with blocking dependencies
• Tests linked directly to requirements

For compliance, RTMX provides traceability:

• Every requirement linked to its test
• Audit-ready CSV database (version-controlled, diff-friendly)
• Validation that catches gaps before reviewers do

Security

RTMX is designed with security-first principles:

Property	Description
Local-first	Your data stays on your machine—no cloud required
Git-native	Full version history and audit trail via git
Human-readable	CSV format is auditable, no opaque databases
Open source	Apache-2.0 license, fully auditable codebase
No telemetry	Zero data collection in the core tool

RTMX Sync (coming soon) adds real-time collaboration with end-to-end encryption, SSO/SAML, and on-premises deployment options for defense and regulated industries.

Installation

pip install rtmx

Quick Start

1. Set up RTMX in your project

rtmx setup

This creates everything you need:

• rtmx.yaml — Configuration file
• docs/rtm_database.csv — Requirements database
• docs/requirements/ — Requirement specification files
• Makefile targets (make rtm, make backlog)
• AI agent configs (CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules)

For existing projects, use --branch to review changes before merging:

rtmx setup --branch    # Creates a git branch for review
rtmx setup --pr        # Creates branch + opens PR

2. Check your status

rtmx status -v    # Verbose output with category breakdown
rtmx status -vv   # Very verbose with requirement details
rtmx status -vvv  # Maximum detail

3. See what to work on next

4. Run health checks

AI Agent Integration

RTMX provides an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for seamless AI agent integration:

rtmx mcp-server

This allows AI assistants like Claude to:

• Query project status and requirements
• Understand what to build next
• Check dependencies and blockers
• Validate changes against requirements

Configure in your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rtmx": {
      "command": "rtmx",
      "args": ["mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Pytest Integration

Link your tests directly to requirements:

import pytest

@pytest.mark.req("REQ-AUTH-001")
@pytest.mark.scope_unit
def test_oauth_login():
    """Validates REQ-AUTH-001: OAuth 2.0 authentication."""
    assert authenticate_user(token) == expected_user

RTMX automatically tracks which requirements have tests and which don't.

Available markers:

Marker	Purpose
@pytest.mark.req("REQ-XXX-NNN")	Links test to requirement
@pytest.mark.scope_unit	Unit test scope
@pytest.mark.scope_integration	Integration test scope
@pytest.mark.scope_system	System/E2E test scope

Commands

Core Commands

Command	Description
rtmx setup	Complete RTMX setup (config, RTM, agents, Makefile)
rtmx init	Minimal setup (config and RTM database only)
rtmx status	Show completion progress (-v, -vv, -vvv for detail)
rtmx backlog	Show prioritized incomplete requirements
rtmx health	Run integration health checks
rtmx config	Show or validate configuration

Analysis Commands

Command	Description
rtmx deps	Show dependency graph
rtmx cycles	Detect circular dependencies
rtmx reconcile	Check/fix dependency reciprocity
rtmx analyze	Discover requirements from project artifacts
rtmx diff	Compare RTM versions (for PRs)

Dashboard Commands

Command	Description
rtmx serve	Start web dashboard with REST API
rtmx tui	Launch interactive terminal dashboard

Integration Commands

Command	Description
rtmx from-tests	Scan tests for requirement markers
rtmx bootstrap	Generate RTM from tests, GitHub, or Jira
rtmx sync	Synchronize with GitHub Issues or Jira
rtmx install	Install prompts into AI agent configs
rtmx makefile	Generate Makefile targets
rtmx mcp-server	Start MCP server for AI agent integration
rtmx docs	Generate schema and config documentation

Makefile Integration

After rtmx setup, you get these Makefile targets:

make rtm       # Quick status check
make backlog   # See what's next
make health    # Run health checks

Python API

from rtmx import RTMDatabase, Status

# Load and query
db = RTMDatabase.load("docs/rtm_database.csv")
incomplete = db.filter(status=Status.MISSING)
phase1 = db.filter(phase=1)

# Graph operations
cycles = db.find_cycles()
blockers = db.critical_path()

# Validation
errors = db.validate()
violations = db.check_reciprocity()

# Modify and save
db.update("REQ-SW-001", status=Status.COMPLETE)
db.save()

Configuration

rtmx.yaml:

rtmx:
  database: docs/rtm_database.csv
  requirements_dir: docs/requirements
  schema: core
  pytest:
    marker_prefix: "req"
    register_markers: true

RTM Schema

The CSV database includes these columns:

Column	Required	Description
req_id	Yes	Unique identifier (e.g., REQ-AUTH-001)
category	Yes	High-level grouping
requirement_text	Yes	Human-readable description
status	Yes	COMPLETE, PARTIAL, MISSING, NOT_STARTED
priority	No	P0, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW
phase	No	Development phase number
dependencies	No	Pipe-separated req IDs this depends on
blocks	No	Pipe-separated req IDs this blocks
test_module	No	Test file path
test_function	No	Test function name

See the schema documentation for the complete schema.

CI/CD Integration

RTMX provides GitHub Actions workflows:

Health check on every push:

- run: pip install rtmx
- run: rtmx health --format ci

RTM diff on pull requests:

- run: |
    git show origin/main:docs/rtm_database.csv > base.csv
    rtmx diff base.csv docs/rtm_database.csv --format markdown

Development

git clone https://github.com/rtmx-ai/rtmx.git
cd rtmx
make dev      # Install with dev dependencies
make test     # Run tests
make lint     # Run linter

License

Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE for details.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please read our contributing guidelines before submitting PRs.

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Built by ioTACTICAL Engineering
dev@rtmx.ai